Feeding a Family of Four on $35/week

I'm often asked how we manage to eat well on a $35/week grocery budget. Though that might seem like a very small amount to feed a family of four with, with some creativity, it has worked well for our family for the past four years. And yes, the $35 includes toiletries, laundry soap, cleaners, diapers, medicine, etc. It covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all three of us for a week, other than the one meal a week we eat out. I can actually do it for less than $35, but that allotment gives us enough room to be able to purchase more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, some organic food, and farm-fresh hormone-free milk and eggs.

Here's a quick run-down of some things which have helped us stick to a rather lean grocery budget:

1. Plan a menu around what you have on hand and the store sales and stick to it. The most important step in lowering your grocery budget is having a plan and keeping it. Second of all, don't just plan a menu, go through your cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer and use those as the basis for your menu. Start with what you have and creatively use that before you buy anything extra. Thirdly, check your store fliers (you can usually do this online) and see what is on a good sale and plan your menu around that, as well.

2. Shop at more than one store. Unless you live somewhere where you only have one store to shop at, don't do all your shopping in one location. I try to hit two-three stores each week buying just the best deals from each. I almost always hit Kroger - as I have found them to consistently have the best loss-leaders and I love their double-coupon policy. Plus, they often have Catalina deals (where when you buy 2 or 4 of a certain item, you get $x off your next shopping order). I usually always go to CVS, as well (more on that in a minute), and then, if I have a few staple ingredients I need to get or the deals are rather weak or my cupboard is rather bare, I'll hit Aldi. It varies from week-to-week depending upon what the sales are.

3. When something is on a good sale (for me, that means combining the sale with coupons it is free, close to free, or something we use often and the price is considerably cheaper than the Aldi price), stock up.